1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to electronic mail (email) and relates more particularly to a system and method for increasing email productivity.
2. Description of the Background Art
Electronic mail (email) has become an important tool for both business and personal communication, and its use will likely become even more critical in the future. Many professionals spend a good part of their workday reading and drafting email messages for various purposes. High-volume email users, for example professionals with publicly-available email addresses, may receive hundreds of email messages a day, and can spend several hours each day dealing with them. The sheer volume of received email messages challenges the productivity of any professional.
Email users often receive junkman, also known as unsolicited commercial email or spam. Most users are not interested in such messages and routinely delete them unread. However, some junkman messages are not easily identified as such from the sender or the subject line, and a user may waste time opening and reading a message only to discover that it is unwanted junkman. Email users also often receive personal messages such as jokes, invitations, and notes from friends. Some users may consider these types of messages as junkman, while others enjoy sending and receiving such messages.
For most business users, the bulk of received email messages are work-related, some of which have a higher priority than others. For example, an email message from a key customer is likely to be of a higher priority than a message from a co-worker. Also, a message from a user's supervisor is likely to be of a higher priority than a message that is a reminder of a regularly scheduled meeting. In addition, messages regarding certain topics may be regarded as having a higher priority than messages regarding a different topic. Each user may have a different determination of which messages have a higher priority, and this determination of priority may change over time.